hurricane irma shaking an entire state. >> the powerful storm is making a slow march up florida's spine. >> we're feeling the brunt of hurricane irma right now. >> the fierce winds clobbering both coasts. >> oh, my god. >> construction cranes toppling over miami's skyline. naples underwater and a test for tampa this morning. not seeing a hurricane like this in nearly a century. >> we have for 90 years avoided this day. but i think our day has come. >> this morning millions are without power. >> whoa! >> and the dangers are far from over as millions more prepare for irma's punch. >> everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. well, we're about to get punched in the face. >> the damage left behind. and where irma is heading right now on "america this morning."

we do say good morning to you on this monday. we start with the breaking new information about irma. moving very quickly overnight. now battering north florida. >> its powerful bands moved out of south florida but that is still getting hit with dangerous winds and a massive tornado watch ahead of the storm all the way up into brunswick, georgia. that storm surge is increasing in jacksonville. >> here's the latest overnight, nearly 4.5 million customers in florida are without power right now. that number expected to grow. all major florida airports including miami's are closed and at least 32 deaths reported from the hurricane. most of those in the caribbean. >> and in lakeland east of tampa the wind and rain pounded that area overnight and matt smith of wfts shows us some of the conditions he faced. >> reporter: the wind is whipping harder. i can tell you the trees look like they're bending but the good news here when those gusts

stop, you can get a chance here, you can see this marriott behind me, yeah, this is actually blocking a lot of that wind and i'll step to the side here and danny can take a look here. when the wind truly picks up it almost looks like a fire hydrant just busting out here around the corner. that's what we're getting is a lot of redirected wind because of the way these buildings are situated. it is good and safe for those who are inside of them. it is a dangerous situation out here and it is only getting worse. we actually -- keep our back to that moving forward here. you can see when the gusts kick in here, you're seeing those lines of rain actually come across. you're seeing a lot of power behind this storm right now. that's why we're going to actually send it back to you in the studio right now because i'm wrapping up for the evening and we'll take cover the rest of the night. for now reporting in tampa, matthew smith, abc action news. >> matthew, thank you. since then luckily the wins have died down quite a bit. we want to bring in kelly ann

cicalese. we're seeing it die down but other areas are starting to get the brunt. what can we expect? >> the worst is going to be as you move north and east of this eye wall and move into really northeastern portions of florida. that's where we're seeing that tornado watch in effect. that actually extends well into southern georgia, as well so that's the main area of concern especially jacksonville. you can see some of those bands pushing right on through. those are the bands that will keep us with us with the severe threat through the morning hours and track that we're watching and it's just slightly west of northerly and will be weakening likely through the morning and especially as it moves through the afternoon hours eventually becomes a tropical depression as it makes its way toward the midsection of the country. we have wind gust, 58-mile-per-hour wind gusts at times and extends well into georgia through this afternoon. check out savannah, wind gusts over 60 miles per hour and eventually through this evening as well seeing even atlanta, major cities seeing major

impacts with the wind and the rainfall. locally close to 15 inches of rain possible stretching right on through jacksonville, in fact, speaking of jacksonville there's several areas that are now reporting that their flood stage has been reached so that's what we're seeing, a lot more flood warnings being issued for much of the state and that's now starting to extend into georgia as well. so a multistate issue in addition to the gusty winds. >> i can tell you the last time i ever heard of atlanta on a tropical storm warning, major city there. major impact. what sort of impact will this have. >> the major impact for them the wind is, of course, going to be a concern because they have the likelihood of seeing it 50 miles per hour at times but i have a feeling that will be the flooding and rainfall that's moving in because that's holding together with that track. notice that it's passing just west of atlanta as we move into the forecast later for this evening and through the tuesday morning time period. so likely they're going to get some of those stronger winds

during that time but rainfall really looking to hold together for them so we'll have to keep an eye on that even as it tracks to the tennessee valley. >> kelly ann, thank you. one of the big concerns this morning will be storm surge and other causes of possible flooding. one of the big areas vulnerable to that is the city of tampa. the city layout itself makes it especially vulnerable to possible flooding. >> we spoke with tampa's mayor as he was starting to feel the impact of the storm. >> we were watching this. we knew it had the capacity and certainly the size and the magnitude anything unlike we've seen as a state that we knew it had the capacity to change and so we've been staffed up for a week this is when we rise up and do what the people need us to do. large parts are low lying like a bowl and so they hold a lot of water. given the amount of water that

will come and wind pushing it up and given the surge will occur early at the same time we will have a high tide i fully anticipate those areas will be affected to a greater degree than anyplace else. we know there's been sporadic outages. i'm mostly concerned that the power to our sewer plants, our water plants, i mean we have backup generators and enough fuel to last for a couple of days. we will not be able to tell until the sun comes up to see what type of condition the power grid is. i would imagine we will have power outages for a few days. >> yeah, over 4 million, 4.5 million people are without power this morning and hurricane irma is already one of the biggest and most powerful hurricanes to ever hit florida. >> storm chasers clocked winds of 117 miles an hour in the florida keys but the actual speed may have been much higher. >> now, irma did not hit miami head on but it still managed to cause significant damage there to homes and other buildings. >> yeah, the strong winds also

bent and snapped construction cranes at three sites. two in miami, one in ft. lauderdale. residents near those sites warned they were in danger because of the cranes. >> abc's stephanie ramos is there in miami. stephanie, good morning. looks like it's a lot calmer now than it was then. >> reporter: it definitely is, diane and kendis, what a weekend here in miami. hurricane irma is now moving up florida's gulf coast as you mentioned. after hitting miami with powerful winds and rain for hours. some streets are flooded here. trees are down and here in miami-dade county there were so many power outages more than 80% of power customers are in the dark this morning. hurricane irma, a statewide size storm is still pounding florida this morning. miami escaping irma's center but still hammered by winds, gusts approaching 100 miles per hour. the storm even producing some

tornadoes. >> whoa. >> reporter: winds so strong at least three construction cranes crashed into buildings. in downtown miami a storm surge taking over roads. now looking more like rivers. ahead of the monster storm millions of floridians asked to evacuate. at this shelter 1 of 500 open across the state no electricity. >> we were very nervous. very scared. millions of customers now without power across the state. the intense storm first making landfall in the florida keys. now climbing along the west coast. irma moving with violent winds and rain toward naples and tampa. >> forecast track takes the center then into georgia tomorrow and then ultimately if the system weakens becoming a tropical depression by tuesday. >> reporter: and this isn't over yet. the national weather service says these extreme storm conditions will continue today to the west and then central

florida. kendis, diane. >> yeah, stephanie, indeed, a storm that will at least live with us for a couple more days. stephanie ramos there in miami. more than 16,000 power workers from outside florida are prepared to help get electricity flowing again. >> now, at one point more than 80% of their customers throughout the state had lost power. officials say it could take weeks to get everyone back online. a pair of major cruise lines are sending ships to the caribbean to help islands devastated by hurricane irma as well. norwegian cruise lines is sending a vessel to pick up stranded tour ritzs. royal caribbean is devoting four to help throughout the region as well. when we come back, pope francis injured in colombia. a mass shooting in texas during a football viewing party. steve bannon's first interview since leaving the white house. hear what he says president trump did. that's the biggest mistake in

modern political

we're back with a developing story overnight. police are investigating a shooting at a home in a quiet neighborhood of plano, texas, that left seven people dead. >> police say officers responded to reports of shotting fired during a party and confronted the suspected shooter, one officer opened fire killing the suspect. all of the victims were adults and an investigation is under way to determine exactly what happened here. thousands of people are expected to attend ceremonies today marking the 16th anniversary of the september 11th attacks. president trump will as a result preside over his first 9/11 ceremony as president. >> the first lady will join him at a commemoration later on this morning at the pentagon. the vice president mike pence will attend a ceremony in shapgsville, pennsylvania, and here in new york city, the reading of the names and the

annual tribute in light will take place at ground zero later on this evening. in his first tv interview since leaving the white house, presidents former chief strategist has taken aim on what he calls the republican establishment. >> appearing on "60 minutes" steve bannon declared war saying they stonewalled president trump's populist agenda. >> the swamp is a business model. permanent political class as represented by both parties. you're not going to drain that in eight months. you're not going to drain it in two terms. this is going to take 10, 15, 20 years of relentlessly going after it. >> he also said the firing of fbi director james comey was the, quote, biggest mistake in modern political history. meanwhile, hillary clinton is also opening up about president trump and giving her take on her fallen bid for the white house ahead of tomorrow's release of her campaign memoir clinton tells cbs she thinks

prul won the election by stoking racial grievances, in her words among millions of white people. and south of the border now pope francis' final day got off to a bumpy start. he cut his eyebrow and bruised his cheek when he hit his head inside the popemobile during a sudden stop in car tht hanna. >> he continued his full schedule of events including a mass. the whole thing celebrated with a bruise and a black eye but the pope carried on. >> he's quite all right. >> when we come back the operation under way in the florida keys today. house-to-house searches amid the devastation. and the new video just in from tampa. the city's football stadium getting battered. our coverage continues next. with my moderate to severe crohn's disease,... ...i was always searching for ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i had it covered. then i realized managing was all i was doing. when i finally told my doctor,

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today will be hitting daytona beach to jacksonville and then over to gainesville with winds of up to 75 miles per hour. there's also tornado watches in effect from northeast florida to georgia. daylight will give us answers in the keys where we're waiting for more damage assessments from the keys. irma first made landfall as a powerful category 4 and crews will conduct house-to-house searches. the military's c-130 planes will arrive in marathon key for air lift missions. irma's strong winds also battered florida's east coast tossing debris around melbourne beach as you can see causing transformers to explode. two tornadoes were confirmed in other parts of brevard county. a storm surge of one to three feet expected for the tampa bay area overnight. >> the wind and rain came down hard overnight. reporter shawn daily was watching the conditions at raymond james stadium, home to the buccaneers. >> first of all, look at the top

of ray jay. can you see that with the red lights up there and the rain and the wind going across? i have never seen that before. it's almost like ray jay the bull is making a stew. it looks like steam is coming out of ray jay but it's just sheets and sheets of rain and wind. talk about it. this is a lull we're going through now. guy, this is a lull. this is one of those bands dennis is talking about. the trees are still whipping pretty good but every now and then it gets really, really rough. we'll try to stay up here as long as we can but it's tremendous conditions and, one more thing, dennis, is that howling. the howling of the wind we're hearing with more and more frequency. almost a deep bellow. like an angry old man. he's yelling, you know, and it's very, very chilling and it's very disconcerting but we'll keep monitoring this, dennis and

it is getting dramatic. look at that. >> dramatic reading there on the description of irma there at the stadium. in the meantime, as it rakes over florida it is leaving behind a trail of downed trees as well as crumpled buildings and plenty of flooded neighborhoods. >> abc's tom llamas had a tough time staying on his feet as it hit ft. myers. take a look. >> you can see the winds. you can see the winds how powerful they are. it is going east to west and see the top of those palm trees right there and how they're blowing. hurricane irma shredding ft. myers at this hour. just behind me there was a stop sign of it was a metal stop sign. it was embedded in concrete. it's just been ripped out of the post and went flying behind me. over here you can see it's a whiteout. very tough to see but you can see the line of the hurricane winds. it's an east to west wind. it is shredding those palm trees at this hour. dave, i don't have a radar in front of me but i don't need one. hurricane irma is right over us right now. we are a little more inland. we're a little more protected

and a little concerned because there's a marina across from us right now and i'm concerned about the project ties so we'll move back inside but at this hour ft. myers is getting absolutely ripped apart. there's a curfew in effect at 8:00. it doesn't matter. you can't be in the streets right now. >> tom llamas for us and ft. myers, luckily things have caughted down. we'll take you to the urgent effort to evacuate some of the most vulnerable animals in the storm zone including these flamingos. >> the air national guard couple who refused to let irma keep them from tying off their knot. how they pulled off their dream wedding next. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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and flipped a plane. luckily no injuries reported. on florida's west coast, the hurricane pulled the water right out of tampa bay. test. test. pictures of both. things that were underneath the water and here they were clearly exposed, people walking their dogs on what should have been -- and what was the bed of tampak where you get the actual storm surge. >> yep. and it wasn't just the people who evacuated before irma struck. >> some flamingo at busch gardens in tampa had to be relocated. you could see them marching two by two to a room where they're riding out the storm among 12,000 animals at busch gardens sheltered before the storm. >> receding water left a group

of manatees high and dry. wildlife officials moved them out to deeper water. >> irma was no match for one couple determined to get married surrounded by soldiers and airmen from the florida national guard. senior airman laura and michael davis tied the knot at the orange county convention center. supposed to get hitched next week in jacksonville but decided to exchange vows while volunteering to help with response efforts. >> what a smart move and great they're helping out. more news after this. maria's always on the go,

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yets time right now is 4:27, monday be september 11th. irma has weakened to a category 1 storm but the hurricane is still hammering much of florida. winds, flooding and power outages. we will have a live report from miami with the latest on the storm's path. hundreds of local power employees in contractors are headed south to help in the area's devastated by the storm already. today is the 16th anniversary of the september 11th attacks. volunteers pay tribute to victims overnight. we will have the latest from accu-weather on jose another storm in the atlantic, plus traffic and more next on action news. have an army of reporters out in florida covering the hurricane. >> that, indeed. many have had to battle

incredible conditions to deliver the news often risking their lives. >> exactly why we evacuated because we feared -- whoa. we feared these winds are intense here. i mean you can just see -- >> i don't have a radar in front of me. i don't need one. hurricane irma is right over us right now. we are inland and more protected and a little concerned because there's a marina across from us now and i'm a little concerned about the projectiles so we'll move back inside. >> look at this. you can really start to feel the wind and the rain coming down. i'm getting blown away here so, you know what, we're going to send it back to you. getting a little dangerous. >> if we can i want to show you a little of what we're seeing out here. just off behind me, whoo. when that rain hits your face it really hurts, guys. >> i do want to get back to matt gutman and his crew, and, matt, if you can hear me, just

reassure the rest of us you're okay. we lost his audio but i can assure you producers told us he's okay. >> i believe right now i'm standing pretty much where the storm drain is. and you can see just how far i sunk down in the sand. >> this is why they should not be out on these roads. this is why they should not be out on any beaches or taking any unnecessary risks because there is literally a hurricane right outside. >> really strong out here right now actually. difficulty even to keep our balance and so, yeah. oh. >> it's also kind of hard to tell in which direction the wind is blowing. there's a sort of circular swirl happening. the eye wall is clearly, i don't know, within a few miles of where we are standing. >> our magnitude # is okay. all of our crews did the best to stay safe in the storm. >> absolutely and we're glad you did too. that's what's making news in america this morning.

♪ news, delaware valley's leading news program. good morning, it's 4::30 a.m. on monday, september 11th and we're tracking irma's path >> the hurricane weakened to on a category 1, it still has incredible force, tearing across the tampa bay region with 85 miles per hour winds. >> the storm killed five people so far in florida, and at least 27 in the caribbean. in miami, irma swammed hometowns and boats and toppled massive construction cranes over the skyline. with communication cuts to some of the flo